Townsville Family Pools: Accusations made over pool installations
A Townsville Army veteran says she is distraught after what she alleged was a nightmare pool installation.
Townsville
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A Townsville Army veteran says she is distraught after what she alleged was a nightmare pool installation.
“I’ve seen a lot of s--t in the Army, a lot of s--t, and I’ll tell you now, I’ve never experienced so much f---ing drama – I’m shaking talking to you – about buying a product, a swimming pool,” the former corporal said as she broke down in tears on Thursday.
“This swimming pool is f---ing drowning me and I haven’t even swum in it yet.”
In addition to the veteran, two other people say they are unhappy with their dealings with Townsville Family Pools and owner David Warne, who has vigorously defended his conduct.
The veteran, who wished to be known by middle-name Cherell, said she had laid a complaint with the Queensland Building and Construction Commission in relation to Townsville Family Pools, which is owned by Mr Warne - a former owner of Tall Ships Australia in Sydney.
The QBCC confirmed on Friday that it had suspended the licence of Team Lifestyle, trading as Townsville Family Pools, on Wednesday for “failure to comply with an audit”.
It said that the individual licence of Mr Warne, director of the business since June 22, 2022, was still active.
“As a result of the licence suspension, Townsville Family Pools is prohibited from carrying out or undertaking to carry out any building work, including any work that is currently in progress.”
Mr Warne said that the business licence had been suspended for financial reasons after he was not paid money he was owed.
He said it was unfair to be criticised for unfinished work when he had not been paid, and that he had engaged another business to assist in completing jobs.
He also claimed the business had been ‘held hostage’ by review sites, which do not require validation of the claims made in negative reviews.
In a one-star post on Google, Melissah Collins complained of “poor communication” saying the business “kept on cancelling and I still have an incomplete job”.
Ms Collins, from Charters Towers, stood by her review, saying her dealings with Mr Warne were stressful.
She said her pool was her pride and joy, but her dealings with the pool business had been “just a nightmare”.
She said the family paid a deposit of $3400 in mid-May after Mr Warne quoted about $11,900 and promised to do the job in two weeks.
Ms Collins said after some initial tile work was finally completed, Mr Warne asked to modify the agreed scope of work in mid-August.
She said she reluctantly agreed to tiling for the pool coping but put her foot down when he asked for more money.
‘I said ‘Dave, I’m not paying you any more money, I’m good for the money but you’re not showing me you are good for the work … ‘I’m not paying you anything till you are back out here.”
Nicole Ioannou, from Yabulu, said last week that she had paid $40,000 toward a $47,000 pool that Mr Warne gave verbal assurances would be ready by August but was still waiting for about $7000 worth of equipment, including the pump and chlorinator.
Speaking on Monday, she said the final equipment had arrived on Friday and the pool was usable but yet to be certified.
Cherell, who is on disability support and suffers from PTSD after 15 years of military service, said she paid $50,900 for a pool from Mr Warne on June 25, a price that included a spa, concreting, fence and equipment.
She said she paid a $5000 deposit on the 26th followed by $39,000 the day after that.
Cherell said workers finally arrived on July 12.
Cherell said a QBCC inspector was flying from Brisbane to inspect the installation this week.
Mr Warne said the business licence had been suspended because “I didn’t hand in my financials because people haven’t been paying me” and was, contractually, “owed a significant amount of money”.
He refuted the allegations levelled by the three individuals, including Cherell, who he said had shouted at his staff and refused to allow Mr Warne on site.
“Of course it’s substandard but I haven’t finished the job, I’ve never been paid for stage 3 … or stage 4.”
Mr Warne said stage 3 costs of about $4500, as outlined in the contract, included finished concreting, coating and fencing, while the stage 4 costs of $3000 for certification.
“Of course there are faults with the pool, of course there are things that haven’t been finished, it’s only at stage two of four, it’s impossible for the pool to be perfect,” he said.
“How can you talk about the quality of a pool when you haven’t finished the job yet? I’ve got no claims to finishing the job, I am only half-way through the job.”
He said he had lodged a claim for stage 3 costs against Cherell with QCAT.
Mr Warne said similarly, Ms Collins had only paid the deposit despite a substantial amount of work, including “about $5000 or $6000 on materials and labour”.
“She refuses to pay the stage 2 invoice which according to the agreement is due on the first day of works.”
Mr Warne said that in Ms Ioannou’s case there was a contract – irrespective of what was said verbally – to complete the project within 90 days, which had now happened.
“Every single one of these people, it’s like jumping on a bandwagon and let’s kill David when the reality is they are stirring each other up into this and the honest reality is there are real answers and real evidence contrary to what is going on in this world.”
Mr Warne, who said he could supply 10 positive reviews from pleased customers, said he had spent $140,000 on completing projects in the last three weeks.
“I’ve been working in with somebody who has been helping me get this jobs finished at a very, very high standard,” he said.
“Who else does that? Every other single person in the world will say ‘stuff you, I’ll just go into liquidation, I don’t need this’, but I haven’t done that.”
In a written statement, Mr Warne said a “large pool company from Brisbane has taken over all Townsville Family Pools unfinished and upcoming pools”.
“Over $150,000 has been invested into my clients’ projects in the past 4 weeks alone,” he said.
“These jobs are being finished to the highest possible standard by concreters and tillers who are flying up from Brisbane due to the shortage of these skilled tradespeople in Townsville.”
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Originally published as Townsville Family Pools: Accusations made over pool installations
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